Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 15 - Chapter 1.1

TANGLED HAIR

“Hm? Oh, it’s snowing ……”

A snowflake flutters down from the sky and I cup my hands to catch it.

Just as I take a look at the little crystal sitting in the palm of my hand, it melts away.

“…… Figures. I just got out of the hot spring.”

There’s nothing like a hot bath in the heart of winter.

Waves echo from the nearby shoreline.

But it’s so dark out that I can’t see the water, much less the scenery designated as one of the Three Great Views of Japan just around the corner.

I make my way from the hot spring back to the main building. It’s late at night, so it feels like I’m all alone out here.

Creak …… creak …… creak ……

The stairs squeak ever so slightly as I climb to the second floor.

Midnight, a room and an old Japanese-style inn.

I take out the cylindrical key to my room, a type of key that’s pretty rare these days, and slide the silver knob into the door. The lock clicks and I step inside.

My eyes adjust to the dim light and catch a glimpse of–––

A naked woman.

“Huh ……?”

Stunned, her incredibly beautiful curves take my breath away and I fall, butt first, onto the tatami mat floor.

Hearing the plop, she …… Machi Kugui looks over at me.

“Yaichi? Have you returned?”

“S-Sorry, Ma-chan! I-I-I thought you were still in the hot spring ……!!”

“He-he, I only just walked in. Thus the moisture on my hair and skin, as well as my loose robe ……”

She slips the yukata up into place as if she’s done it thousands of times before.

From Kyoto, a noble family in fact, she makes even this plain yukata-style bathrobe from an old inn look elegant enough to be worn at a title match.

“Well, what are your thoughts on my figure? I was sure to clean every smidgen from head to toe.”

“Y-Yeah, I know! You’re pretty, I got it! W-Would would you please tie the front already ……?!”

“Aye. You may look if you so please?”

The robe is closed, yes, but …… After seeing exactly what’s right beneath it, I can’t bring myself to look her way at all ……

“Now …… Shall we continue?” says Machi, getting down on all fours and crawling toward me like a cat.

But I’m still frozen on the floor.

“A-Already?! My body can’t keep this up without a break ……”

“Such a tease. Would you not entice me so?” Machi asks like it’s a favor.

But that look in her eyes says that she’s not going to take no for an answer.

“For what reason have the two of us stayed isolated in this very room for days on end? You needed that extra push to concentrate harder than ever, no? I have joined you here, Yaichi, so that our love and efforts may bear fruit.”

“Y-Yes, that’s true, but …… I can only do so much ……”

“Didn’t you say you were nearly filled to bursting?”

I did say that, yes.

But that was because … if I didn’t, Machi would never leave me alone.

Kicking my legs, I slide backwards on the floor in a useless attempt to resist.

“A-After all that you squeezed out of me yesterday, the tank is bone dry……!”

“That won’t do. I need so much more.”

Machi tilts her head with frustration.

Then she points at a laptop shining brightly in the center of the room and says point blank, “There aren’t nearly enough pages to produce your maiden release. There needs to be much much more.”

“I realize that! You don’t have to tell me!”

Still sitting on the floor, I put my head in my hands and state my case on the verge of tears.

“You’re the one who set up this writing retreat for me, like I was some seasoned author and also a beautiful editor doing round-the-clock support, and I’m grateful!! But also, that put so much pressure on me that I’ve hit a wall ……!!”

“A virgin author who has yet to publish their maiden release has no right to claim writers block. What you lack is commitment, plain and simple.”

Her argument hits me like a gut punch.

Just to be clear, what she was squeezing out of me yesterday was ideas. She has a way of sounding like a succubus in that sense, so sorry about that.

“Now, Sensei. Plant yourself in front of the computer and pick up where you left off. I’ll be seeing to it that you do not get a wink of sleep tonight, yes?”

“…… Just tonight? Because I don’t remember getting a decent night’s sleep since we got here ……”

“Tee-he-he♡.”

Her lips curl into a suspicious grin, like one of those Fushimi-inari foxes, before my stunningly beautiful editor leans down to whisper in my ear.

“Come. Let’s change the world together …… That’s what this book will do.”

Everything has changed.

My older sister apprentice, who I had confessed my feelings for and she to me, has ghosted me and even disappeared from the entire Shogi world.

The live-in apprentice who I had been raising as carefully as I possibly could has moved out and transferred to Kanto.

And I–––.

I’m alone with a friend from my childhood, one who has watched me closer than anyone this entire time as both a Women’s Shogi player and as a Shogi journalist, at an old Japanese-style inn for a cramming session to write a book.

This Shogi book will become my debut, or maiden release as she puts it.

“…… Why? Why did it turn out this way ……?”

Fatigue and sleep deprivation start playing tricks with my mind ……

My hands tremble and random muscles twitch nonstop from the after effects of all the energy drinks ……

Fingers resting on the keyboard, my consciousness slips back into the past.

Back to the New Year’s Eve when my second apprentice, Ai Yashajin, came to pick me up–––.